The UFA defenseman, late of the New York Islanders, was signed this afternoon. “Whaa?” you might think. “We already have seven defensemen! Kulda!” Well, yes. But we need one of the defensemen to be rough and tumble. Bogosian was a hitting machine last season, but he had Christoph Schubert to do the dirty work. Schu’s gone, which leaves Boris Valabik. As much as I like Boris, and felt that he was finally fitting in with the team’s plan for last season (at least before his leg asploded), his skating skills have never really matured. That, and he gets a penalty for sneezing on someone. Meyer’s not a point machine, or a set-up man, but he should be perfectly servicable on the 3rd pairing with Sopel (cough hint cough). Kulda might be the 7th man to be eased into the business.

This isn’t going to solve the Thrashers’ defensive problems of the last, oh, ten years. But I have a feeling that something’ll work out to improve that GA/game average of ours.